Bnei Brak – Rabbi Shteinman Calls on Jews to Dodge Civil Service

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    (Wikipedia.org)Bnei Brak – The haredi daily newspaper Yated Neeman reported on Monday that Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the most senior rabbi in the haredi world, has called on yeshiva students not to enlist in the civilian service program, the framework designed as an alternative to military service for haredi men.

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    According to an article published on Monday in Yated Neeman, a mouthpiece for the Degel Hatorah political party, Shteinman’s comments were made in response to the government decision on Sunday to allow an extra 1,300 yeshiva students to enlist in the civilian service.

    The article reported that “with the publication of the government decision yesterday, our rabbi and leader the great Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman gave an instruction to warn the masses against this severe and dangerous phenomenon, whose only purpose is to undermine the foundations of our existence and is against the very essence and purpose of a yeshiva student which is to dedicate his life to Torah study.”

    The paper continued by saying that Shteinman said that the haredi world had to “defend its existence” and take precautions “against all the new temptations of the leaders of the regime which damage the foundations of Judaism, whose only purpose is to create a dangerous erosion of students away from the sanctuary of Torah, and so people must be warned not to be enticed whatsoever to go to these services.”

    Unusually for an announcement of this kind, Shteinman’s words were reported in a news article on page three of the newspaper and not published under his name and signature in a public decree on the front page.

    According to one haredi commentator, the unusual format of the announcement could indicate that Shteinman is simply trying not to lose face and be out-manoeuvred by more radical rabbinic leaders who have taken a harsher line than him in the past on the issue of national service.

    At the beginning of the last decade, Shteinman gave tacit support to both the establishment of the Nahal Haredi combat battalion for ultra-Orthodox soldiers and the terms of the Tal Law, both of which were bitterly opposed by most of the haredi rabbinic leadership at the time.

    In response to the report, the Hiddush religious-freedom lobbying group denounced Shteinman’s words and said that since the rabbi inherited the leadership of the haredi world he had “continued to lead the rejectionist haredi front to any compromise or form of integration like his predecessors rabbis Shach and Elyashiv.”

    “Shteinman has again proved that there is no partner for dialogue in the haredi leadership,” said Hiddush director Attorney and Reform Rabbi Uri Regev,

    “It must be hoped that new and more fitting leaders will emerge from the haredi public, who will know how to lead the community to integrate into the economic life of the country and to share the burden of national service,” he added.

    Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post


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    28 Comments
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    ALTERG
    ALTERG
    11 years ago

    Jews will NEVER gano go to the IDF even for plain national service

    itzik18
    itzik18
    11 years ago

    This is the same Rav Shteineman who the idiots in Neturei Karta called a zionist. We are happy to see that they were wrong.

    PrettyBoyFloyd
    PrettyBoyFloyd
    11 years ago

    Dodge it like he did? Oh wait he did serve in the army. What happened, it became Treifer?

    berelw
    berelw
    11 years ago

    reality is, the idf needs manpower…everyone must serve….i support whoever doesnt serve should not benefit from tax dollars…wondwe what they will say then…run to serve?

    shredready
    shredready
    11 years ago

    Not even national service, disgusting

    11 years ago

    Hopefully there will be a day when service in the IDF is optional.

    charls
    charls
    11 years ago

    Yes !!!!! yes !!!!! not even one week after the satmar rabbi shlit”e yelled out “where are you manhigi yisruel” in his words” מנהיגי ישראל איכם” yes rabbi stineman got up and had to say some thing just let’s seat and watch how this is gone unfold who’s next ? all this years no one said “bu” b”h לא אלמן ישראל hashem still has his army should satmar rabbi be blessed from hashem he should have the koach to fight forther למען כבוד שמו יתברך

    shlomozalman
    shlomozalman
    11 years ago

    I give the benefit of the doubt to Rav Shteinman. He knows his constituency and he fears for his life. He remembers being ripped to shreds after supporting Nachal Chareidi. He must tow the line of the obscurantist parasitic chareidi hashkafah, he has no choice. But he knows it is a farce.

    bewhiskered
    bewhiskered
    11 years ago

    This of course, is the same Rav Shteinman whose photo was prominently displayed on the ככר השבת graphic, with the words החילונים ערב רב alongside. It simply boggles the human mind how some are more than ready to parasite off of government handouts from a government they openly and publicly vilify, which incidentally, seems indicative of the actual ערב רב, who sought to benefit from the prominence of the בנ”י in מצרים. Really impressive, isn’t he?

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    11 years ago

    A morud b’malcgus is chiav mesa

    AlbertEinstein
    AlbertEinstein
    11 years ago

    I don’t believe Rav Shteinman said what the article purports him to say.

    care_to_share
    care_to_share
    11 years ago

    Seems the rav said “yeshiva students”, not “all charedi people” – so, if one actually believes in the Torah as a means of protection, I don’t necessarily see the problem. Perhaps he is specifically addressing the people that are sitting and really learning the Torah, not the whole charedi community as a whole?

    (That’s how it appears in the article, as opposed to the comments above.)

    Phineas
    Phineas
    11 years ago

    I never know if Gedolim are quoted accurately anymore or if there was a context do it’s become impossible to judge a quote.